Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use goodwill in a sentence

19 example sentences · noun, verb

Goodwill means a favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something. Example: “The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.”

Examples of goodwill by meaning

nounThe willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just...

  • He can withdraw his goodwill if he pleases.'2007 [1972], John Duddington, quoting Tom Denning, Baron Denning, Employment Law, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 101
  • The downside of this cost-saving strategy was that the train service could only be covered by goodwill.2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32

nounA thrift shop.

  • Buy from goodwills, garage sales, friends, and neighbors.1990, Karen Christensen, Home Ecology: Simple and Practical Ways to Green Your Home, Fulcrum Publishing, page 65
  • Eventually she made her way onto a train, disguised in a wig and wheeling a pram complete with lifelike baby doll, just purchased from a goodwill store.2008, Esther Carney, Avenging Angel, zeus, →ISBN, page 445
  • And I got tired of mom buying me used clothes from a goodwill store.2025 January 7, Robert Garcia, Died Three Times Lived Once, AuthorHouse, →ISBN

verbTo voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill.

  • The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.

More sentences with goodwill

  • They were storming near the end of the month to salvage some goodwill.From the entry storm
  • His behavior has eaten up all the goodwill we felt towards him.From the entry eat up
  • Many—football, the steam engine and Worcestershire sauce, to take a random selection—have spread pleasure, goodwill and prosperity.2013 October 5, “The widening gyre”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8856, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry invention
  • She just did – A pause then, thoughtful, bemused, but goodwilled.2011, James Herbert, Shrine, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN. From the entry goodwilled
  • So we ambled on, feeling ecstactically how casual, amiable, and goodwilled the world in the market is.1927, The Exile. From the entry goodwilled
  • Available for Trade, LoC, Contribution, goodwill (rarely) or even money.1964 January, Les Spinge, page 2. From the entry loc
  • Or will it all turn out to be a temporary blip, a fleeting moment of goodwill and good manners, a mere gap in the clouds?2026 May 2, Simon Tisdall, “The king went to Washington to save Britain’s bacon. He may also have shown the US how to save itself”, in The…. From the entry take to heart
  • He’s relatively untested and rode to the highest office in the land on a wave of goodwill — but is he ready for the job?2007 January 21, Chicago Tribune, 160th year, number 21, section 7, page 16. From the entry Obama-esque
  • Why, nobody knew—probably just to convey the goodwill of the British, who would not themselves be landing on the Continent for another six months.1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 136. From the entry ex officio
  • The lamas of Hsiaho County, Kansu Province, welcome the goodwill mission in their famous temple, Labrang Gomba, and hear the government's policy towards national minorities.[1951 January, Kung-liao Sa, “National Minorities Welcome the Goodwill Mission”, in China Pictorial, number 1, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16?. From the entry Xiahe
  • Whenever there was a spat between ASLEF and management - regardless of cause - the withdrawal of this goodwill became a stick with which unions could beat management.2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32. From the entry spat
  • "I'm calling on the owners of Maine Yankee to pull their managers in check, because they are destroying whatever goodwill their employees have built up," Shadis said.1999 July 28, Kris Ferrazza, quoting Ray Shadis, “State, Maine Yankee spar over inspections”, in Lincoln County Weekly. From the entry lack-grace
  • The immediate problem is how to compass that end: by the seizure of territory or by the cultivation of the goodwill of the people whose business she seeks.1921 November 23, The New Republic, volume 28, number 364, page 2. From the entry compass

Meaning of goodwill

  1. noun A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.
  2. noun The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.
  3. noun The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.

Full definition of goodwill

Questions about goodwill in a sentence

How do you use goodwill in a sentence?
Goodwill is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.”
What is a short sentence with goodwill?
“Buy from goodwills, garage sales, friends, and neighbors.”
What does goodwill mean?
Goodwill means a favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goodwill (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use goodwill in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/goodwill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.